What is Kinship Care?
Kinship care relates to the care of children who are not looked after by their birth parents but are cared for by either family members or someone they have an existing relationship with. Regulation 10 of The Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 defines a kinship carer as:
- a person related to the child by blood, marriage or civil partnership, with no restrictions on closeness of that related status
- a person known to the child and with whom the child has a pre-existing relationship. This could include close friends or people who know the child through regular contact and can be seen as part of the child's network
Kinship care includes both:
- Formal Kinship Care - 'looked after children' who have been placed with kinship carers by the local authority
- Informal Kinship Care - non-looked after children who live in an informal kinship care arrangement. These children may be subject to a residence order, (also known as a kinship order) under Section 11 of The Childrens (Scotland) Act 1995 or may be living in a completely private arrangement with extended family, with no local authority involvement.
Looked after status refer to children who were placed with the kinship carer by the local authority under Section 25 (voluntary arrangements) of The Children's (Scotland) Act 1995, or via The Children's Hearing where children and young people may be subject to Section 83 of The Children's Hearing (Scotland) Act 2011.
Children may find themselves looked after by kinship carers for a whole variety of reasons. Bereavement, family breakdown, trauma, neglect or health issues might mean that parents are not in a position to care for their children and that other family or friends may step in to support. As a result, it's important for Kinship Carers to be aware of the impact that this may have on the child and that they may require additional supports.
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